"The government supports the
fight for equality and we will adopt measures providing equal marriage
rights for all," Cristo said at the Andes University in Bogota on
Thursday, as reported by Efe. He said he would not submit to the mercy
of the majority on matters related to human rights, as 'respect for
equal rights is not optional'. In July 2011, Colombia's Constitutional
Court ruled Congress had two years to legalize same-sex marriage or an
equivalent of marriage. As Congress failed to mass a marriage equality
bill, the courts began approving marriages themselves. But then, the
country's Inspector General requested the Court invalidate all the
marriages approved in Colombia. Only 30 same-sex couples were given a
license.

Cristo claims that Colombia's leading political party, the National
Unity Coalition, is behind him. The party presently holds 60 out of 266
seats in the national legislature.

RELATED: In South America same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina,
Brazil, and Uruguay. Civil unions or partnership laws exist in Chile*,
Colombia, and Ecuador. No relationship recognitions presently exist in Bolivia,
Guyana, Paraguay, Peru**, Suriname, or Venezuela. (*In April the Chilean government formally dropped its opposition to same-sex marriage. **In March the Peruvian Congress rejected a civil unions bill.)

For
this reason, he explained, “the fullest expression of faith is not just
asking for protection from another source, but longing to become
fearless beings ourselves, able to offer protection and refuge to
others.”

"Forgiveness means
freedom: it brings on liberation. It is tremendously freeing to keep
your heart open. Closing the heart is terribly imprisoning. If the chief
warden at this prison is pride, his right-hand man is fear. It often
feels downright humiliating to own up to just how resentful you feel, to
just how hurt you feel for the other's attitude. All this makes of you a
prisoner."